Movies: Top 100

1. Citizen Kane (1941)

Directed by Orson Welles One word: Rosebud. It’s still the greatest movie of all time. Telling the story of a newspaper tycoon based on William Randolph Hearst, the 25-year-old genius Orson Welles poured his own swaggering, larger-than-life soul into a tragic and exuberant American saga of journalism, power, celebrity, idealism, betrayal, and lost love. No matter how many times you’ve seen Kane, it always feels like the first time. That’s because Welles’ filmmaking remains spectacularly alive: The thrill of invention is there in every shot, every performance, every breathless narrative surge. Download it:AmazoniTunes Want to see EW’s picks of the top 100 all-time greatest movies? Buy this week's magazine now,, in print or for your tablet.